


Primary Colors

by shesells_seashells



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kindergarten & Pre-school, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Gen, Preschool AU, bring your fandom to work day, grace is a teacher
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26600374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesells_seashells/pseuds/shesells_seashells
Summary: "Don't worry," Five says seriously. "I promise I won't chew on your bones.""Thanks honey," Grace answers.ORGrace Hargreeves is a preschool teacher in the three-year-old room at Primary Colors. The Hargreeves kids are three-year-olds. What could possibly go wrong?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 110





	Primary Colors

**Author's Note:**

> Okay i haven't written for a fandom since death note in high school but i saw the phrase 'bring your fandom to work day' on reddit, blacked out, and woke up four hours later with this in my computer. So, enjoy?
> 
> *for the purposes of this fic, the Hargreeves are all unrelated.

Grace walks in through the front doors of Primary Colors Preschool at 7:45 am sharp and is greeted by Carol at the desk.

"Morning!" Grace calls cheerfully.

"Ugh," Carol answers, "they're already driving me crazy."

"The kids?" Grace asks. Carol loves all the children and possesses a near infinite amount of patience for their antics.

"The parents!" Carol groans. "Being open twelve hours a day isn't enough for them? Two already told me they can't pick their kids up until after six!"

That makes more sense.

Grace and Carol commiserate a bit longer about difficult parents and Grace clocks in for the day, then she heads down the colorful hall decorated with children's artwork to her room.

"Good morning!" Grace greets as she enters the door.

"Ms. Grace! Ms. Grace!" Klaus shouts from over by the sensory bin. "Look!"

The sensory bin is currently about a quarter full of water with lots of different containers, funnels, and things that might sink or float. She steps up to see that Klaus and Ben have built a little boat with the aluminum foil and put a few pennies on top.

"We made the coins float!" Ben says excitedly, "they're supposed to sink!"

"Good job boys!" Grace exclaims. "Why do you think the pennies are floating now, when they didn't before?"

"We put 'em on the alinum," Klaus says smartly.

"That's exactly right! The aluminum foil floats like a boat and it folds the pennies up. How many toys do you think your boat can hold?"

The boys' eyes light up and they quickly begin to gather all the things on the bottom of the bin to pile onto their boat.

"Guess I'd better get mine and go then," Eudora say, standing up from where she's sitting with Diego on her lap on the carpet. "My friends come line up by the door! We're going to our room for breakfast! Jill! Kai! Harold!"

"Ms. Dora?" Diego asks, still clinging to her hand, "Can I go to your room today?"

"Not today," Eudora says gently, "but you'll be in pre-k soon, won't you? Then I'll see you every day! But Ms. Grace and all of your friends would miss you if you were in my class all day."

"Okay," Diego relents, releasing her hand so that Eudora can go lead her kids down the hall to their room.

Eudora reaches the door and calls for Harold again, and a boy Grace doesn't recognize stands up from where he's coloring with Vanya at the art table. Vanya waves shyly to him and he grins when he leaves, which is wonderful in Grace's mind. Vanya has some trouble connecting with the other kids in her room, so it's nice that she has a friend.

"Alright!" Grace calls once Eudora has led her pre-k kids out the door to their own room. "It's time to clean up for breakfast."

Vanya begins to put the art supplies away- crayons in the gen bucket, colored pencils in the red one- and then takes the picture she drew to Grace.

“’s for you," she says quietly.

"Oh!" Grace gasps, "I love it sweetheart! Thank you so much." She takes it to the art wall and hangs it up. "How beautiful," she says, "we'll leave it right here so everyone can see it."

There isn't much to do for the sensory bin, so Klaus and Ben move quickly to the kitchen center to pick up the dress-up clothes, which Klaus probably threw on the ground in the first place. Vanya moves to the carpet to help Diego put away the blocks and cars he'd been using, without Grace even having to ask her. When the last of the toys are back in their proper places, all four kids go and sit at the table in the center of the room. With breakfast still a few minutes away, Grace goes to cozy corner to get a book to read.

The kids are scream-singing "I love my wet shoes!" when Mr. Rob brings breakfast around.

“Alright my friends,” Grace calls as she puts Pete the Cat away, “how do you show me you’re ready for breakfast?”

“Heads down!” Klaus cries as everyone quiets down and puts their heads on the table.

“Heads down,” Grace agrees as she passes out coffee filters and fills them with pancake-on-a-stick and canned peaches. “Good job everyone.”

Luther comes in as the kids are just getting started.

“Good morning Luther! Please go wash your hands for breakfast,” Grace calls as she grabs another coffee filter for him.

Luther goes to wash his hands without complaint and sits next to Ben at the table as Grace starts passing out milk. On the pushcart with breakfast is Ben’s almond milk, already poured, as well as Elliot’s, even though he’s rarely at school in time for breakfast. Sissy comes through the door soon after, her older brother Carl presumably already in the pre-k room down the hall. Halfway through breakfast, Five shows up, heading right to cozy corner to look at books.

“It’s breakfast time, honey,” Grace says.

“I’m not hungry,” Five insists. This is how most mornings go so Grace lets it go.

Five is an odd little boy and Grace still doesn’t know the story behind the nickname ‘Five’ but he refuses to answer to anything else. He’s incredibly smart, but prone to tantrums, especially when his schedule is thrown off. He can add double digit numbers in his head and has a great memory and just can’t seem to relate to the others.

Dave comes in after most of the kids have finished breakfast, but the cart is still in the hall so Grace gets him some food and sits him at the mostly-empty table. Elliot arrives soon before nine, when breakfast is gone but he never complains, just joins Luther at table toys to play with the magnetic tiles.

Grace gives them a few more minutes before calling out, “Time to clean up for circle time!”

A few of the kids groan, but most of them start picking up their toys without complaint. Luther looks around, and asks “but Ms. Grace, Allison’s not here yet?”

“Maybe she’ll show up soon,” Grace says, “but she might not be coming today sweetheart.”

Luther frowns, but goes back to helping Elliot pick up the magnetic tiles and counting bears.

Carol comes by while the kids are finishing up and asks, “Missing anyone today?”

“Just Allison,” Grace answers.

“Oh, her dad called earlier. She has a dentist appointment, but she’ll be here around ten.”

“Oh good! Luther was missing her already.” The two share a laugh for a moment and Carol moves on to another room. Grace marks her own attendance sheet and then joins the kids on the carpet.

“Everyone find your squares please!” Grace calls, and the kids move to sit in the squares in the area rug’s pattern. Each child has their own square, marked with tape that has their name on it.

“Good morning everyone!” Grace calls and the children answer ‘good morning’ back. “How are we feeling today? Thumbs up or thumbs down?”

The kids raise their hands, mostly thumbs up, a few thumbs down.  
“Ben?” Grace asks. Ben is usually thumbs up.

“I wanna go home,” Ben mumbles.

“I’m sorry honey,” Grace answers. “Can I help you feel better?”

Ben sniffles, “I miss my mommy.”

Uh-oh. “I know,” Grace coos, “when does mom come, Ben?”

Ben doesn’t answer so Klaus shouts, “After nap!”

“That’s right,” Grace answers, moving to give Ben a cuddle, “moms come pick us up after nap. She’ll be here as soon as she can.” Ben nods and Grace goes to sit in front of the circle time wall.

“Elliot?” Grace asks, “why are you thumbs up?”

“Uhhhh,” Elliot says, “’cause I like going to school!”

“I like going to school too!” Grace replies, “I love seeing all my friends.”

Circle time continues, with the days of the week song and the letter and number of the day. They talk about recycling, following the Creative Curriculum, and count out loud as they jump up and down. After circle time is story time, where they read The Kissing Hand, a sweet story about a racoon with separation anxiety.

Art time follows at about nine-thirty. They make a cute art project based on the book they just read, and then Grace helps the kids properly hold a pencil and trace their letter of the week, ‘H.’

As they’re finishing this up, Allison comes through the door.

“Good morning Allison!” Grace calls. “Go wash your hands please.”

Allison changes direction from where she was headed to join Luther and Ben on the carpet to the sink instead. She waits behind Klaus, who’s playing in the water and taking his time washing paint off of his hands.

“Dry your hands, Klaus, you’re done,” Grace calls. He turns the water off and gets a paper towel while Allison steps up to the sink. Grace finishes helping Elliot write his H and then sends him off to play until everyone else is done too. Grace has Allison make a kissing hand for her portfolio but doesn’t bother with having her write an H. Allision writes fairly well for a three-year-old anyway.

It’s after ten by the time everyone and everything is cleaned up, so Grace sits the children on the carpet to play Mr. Clown until it’s time for them to go outside.

“Mister Clown! Mister Clown! Who’s the funniest clown in town? Quick! Quick! Vanya do a trick!” Vanya sometimes refuses to play, but today she gets up and does a summersault.

“Wow! What a great trick, Vanya!” Grace says. Vanya smiles shyly and sits back down in her square.

Grace stands up and says, “Okay, time to go outside! Dave, go line up by the door! Vanya go line up! Luther, Ben, Five, go line up! Sissy, Allison, Elliot! Diego, Klaus, go line up!”

Once everyone is in a more-or-less straight line, Grace moves to the front and says, “How do we walk in the halls?”

“Hip and a lip!” everyone cries, putting one hand on their hip and bringing a finger from the other hand up their lips.

“Very good,” Grace says. “Let’s walk to the door and then stop.” As the kids pass by her to walk down the hall, Grace counts them to make sure all ten come out of the room.

“Alright,” Grace says to the kids lined up on the wall, “what kind of hands do we use outside?”

“Gentle hands!” a few of the kids shout.

“Exactly! And what do we do if we see mud puddles?”

“Go around them!”

“Yes! And what do we do with bugs?”

“Leave them alone!”

“Very good! Let’s go.” Grace opens the door to the playground and the kids run out.

As she steps out behind them, Grace takes a deep breathe and smiles. It’s been a good morning.

“Klaus gi- give- give that back! It’s mine!”

Well. A normal morning.

“Ms. Grace! Diego’s throwing the balls over the fence!” Klaus cries as Grace approaches.

“Diego, why are you throwing the balls over the fence?” Grace asks reasonably. “When the balls go over the fence, we can’t get them back. Now what are your friends supposed to play with? That isn’t very nice.”

Diego mumbles about seeing how high he can throw balls, which is fair. Grace has long-since come to terms with the fact that Diego just loves throwing shit.

“But soon you won’t have any balls to throw,” she points out. “Why don’t you take one ball over by the tree and see how far you can throw it instead.”

Diego nods, looking a bit put-out and Klaus gives him back the ball he’d taken. “Can I play too?”

The boys walk away, joined by Dave, and start throwing the ball at each other. 

Vanya and Sissy are sitting, giggling, in the tunnel, sticking their hands in and out of the little windows while Ben runs back and forth trying to grab them. Luther is leading the last three around on a ‘treasure hunt’ using a dirty piece of paper they apparently found on the ground. Five occasionally takes it from him to announce they’re going the wrong way and drags them all another way, sometimes to the others displease. He’s playing nicely with the other kids though, so Grace decides she won’t interfere unless necessary.

Too soon, it’s time for lunch.

“Everyone pick up the balls, it’s time to go inside!” Grace calls. Several of the kids whine but otherwise make no move to stop their games.

“Diego, Klaus! Bring me that ball and come line up! Luther, throw that away please! Vanya and Ben, time to line up!” Having been specifically called out, the children take the balls and put them in the black crate by the door before lining up.

“But I don’t wanna go inside,” Luther whines.

“I know honey, but it’s lunchtime! Aren’t you getting hungry?” Grace asks. Luther reluctantly nods and joins the line. Five, however, stays standing several feet away.

“Five, are you coming inside with us?” Grace asks mildly. Five shakes his head. She sighs quietly. He can be so terribly stubborn.

“It’s lunchtime. Your friends are getting hungry.” Five never eats that much and rarely bows to peer-pressure, but it’s worth a shot. He scowls and stays where he is.

Grace kneels down so that she’s eye level with him and says firmly and leaving no room for argument, “Five. It’s time to go inside. We will come back outside in the afternoon, but right now it’s time for Ms. Eudora’s friends to come out and we need to go inside and eat. It isn’t fair to them if we take up their outside time.”

Five considers this for so long, Grace starts to think she’ll have to drag him inside- something she’s done before, but it’s not worth the effort and doesn’t teach him anything. Luckily, Five gives a small nod and takes her hand, allowing Grace to lead him back into line.

“Arms up!” Grace shouts as she and Five approach, “Catch that bubble!” The children pull an invisible ‘bubble’ down out of the air and puff their cheeks out as if it’s in their mouths.

Allison, sweating and smiling, is waiting right at the front of the line. She makes a humming noise to bring Grace’s attention to her, so Grace smiles back and says, “Great bubbles my friends! We’re going to go inside and line up on the wall with the tree.” She points to the wall on her left, which has a large tree painted on it, currently sporting apples that the one-year-olds had finger painted.

The children nod and Grace opens the door, allowing them to walk inside. They line up on the wall and wait.

Grace counts them again as they walk inside, just to be sure, and then says, “Good job, friends. Allison, go get water.”

Allison walks up to the water fountain as Eudora leads her kids down the hall to the playground. They’re singing, “Feet together, side-by-side! Pre-k’s ready to go outside!”

“Hands to yourself,” Grace reminds her own. “Don’t touch Ms. Eudora’s friends.”

Jill and Ben wave to each other anyway, and Carl stops to quickly give his little sister a hug. Once Eudora’s class is out in the yard, Grace calls Diego up to get water and sends Allison back into the line. As they go down the line, some of them get a little loud.

“Oh no!” Grace cries, overexaggerated. “Where did my friends’ bubbles go?”

Everyone hurriedly gets their backs back against the wall and puff their cheeks back out.

Grace smiles. “Great job, my friends. We’re quiet in the halls.”

“So the babies can sleep!” Klaus pipes up before puffing his cheeks back out.

“That’s right,” Grace confirms, “we stay quiet in the halls so that the babies can sleep.”

Technically, the infants are on the other end of the hall and the one-year-olds in the room behind them are eating lunch and won’t go down for a nap just yet, but there’s nothing wrong with a little motivation.

Once everyone’s gotten water, they walk back to their classroom, line up to wash their hands, and then sit in their chairs around the tables, one in the center of the room and one off to the side by the art supplies. Grace reads another story, called Scoot! while they wait for lunch. She calls on kids to name the animals they see on each page. Klaus enthusiastically shouts out the names of random animals, whether or not they can be seen on the page, regardless of if he’s been called on or not. Elliot invents new names for the animals he sees. Eventually, Rob brings lunch around.

“Hi Mr. Rob!” Dave and Sissy call politely and the rest echo them. Rob grins and waves, always happy to see the kids.

“You guys being good?” he asks and they all cheerfully tell him how great they’ve been today and regale him with stories of bugs they found or books they read.

Grace puts on disposable food service gloves and as Rob leaves she asks “Alright, how do you show me you’re ready for lunch?”

“Heads down!” Allison and Klaus shout and everyone lays their heads down and wait quietly.

Grace passes the plates around and then pours milk. Ben and Elliot are lactose-intolerant, so she gets them their ‘special milk.’ As they get their food, the kids pick their heads back up and start talking again, and Grace starts putting out the cots for naptime. When everything’s set up and blankets are on cots, Grace moves to talk to the kids while they finish eating.

“Yum! Do you like your spaghetti?” Grace asks Vanya.

She nods but doesn’t answer. Vanya isn’t very verbal yet, but she is one of the younger kids in her room. It’s just a matter of time and encouragement, which unfortunately Vanya doesn’t get enough of at home.

The kids start finishing up, and Five stands to dump his plate and return it to the cart in the hall.

“Five, you didn’t eat much,” Grace says, frowning.

“Not hungry,” he retorts. He shakes her off as she presses her hand to his forehead, asking if he feels sick. “I’m fine!”

But he’s been fussy today, which is unusual for him. Grace gets Carol to bring her the thermometer, but he doesn’t have a fever, so she lets him go to the bathroom before getting on his cot.

“Luther go potty,” Grace reminds him as he heads right for his cot. He frowns at her, but she says, “we don’t want any accidents, right?” He goes.

Soon everyone is on their cots and Grace walks around to tuck them in.

“All good and cozy?” Grace asks Ben as she draws his blanket up around his shoulder. He nods sleepily and curls up. “Okay. Have a good nap, sweetheart.”

Grace moves on to Klaus and says, “Are you gonna stay on this cot and lay quietly so your friends can sleep?” Klaus nods enthusiastically and with far too much energy for a kid who’s about to take a nap. But hey, that’s exactly why she put Klaus in the corner of the science center.

Once everyone is asleep, Grace starts working on her kids’ daily sheets, noting what they ate for breakfast and lunch, the letter and number of the week, what they talked about during circle time, and anything else parents might need or want to know, like adding that Ben is running out of his special milk on his sheet. Then Klaus starts singing to himself.

“Klaus,” Grace calls out warningly, “catch a bubble.”

He quiets back down. For a while.

Klaus starts playing with his stuffed animal, which Grace decides to ignore for now- he never stays asleep for long, even when he falls asleep right away, so Grace will let him tire himself out for a while, as long as he’s quiet.

He’s not.

“Boom!” Klaus whispers loudly.

“Klaus!” Grace whispers back, “Too loud!”

She walks over to where he’s lying, looking at her guiltily. Grace sighs.

“Klaus,” she starts, picking up his Minnie Mouse stuffie, “you need to be quiet so your friends can sleep, sweetheart. What about poor Minnie? You need to lay still and quiet so that Minnie can get her nap too. If you can’t, Minnie’s going to have to take her nap with me.”

Klaus nods moodily and curls up with Minnie as Grace tucks him back in. He doesn’t sleep, but he does quiet down.

Dave, across the floor on the carpet, is reaching for the car bucket.

“Dave!” Grace scolds. “What are you doing? Is it naptime or playtime?”

“Naptime,” Dave mumbles.

“That’s right. You need to stay on this cot, honey. I don’t have to put you in a crib in the baby room, do I?”

“No!”

“Good,” she says, and tucks him in.

Dave just can’t sleep today though, and eventually Grace sits by his cot and pats his back until he manages it. Luckily, Klaus has fallen asleep by now too. Unluckily, Diego is whining in his sleep.

“Diego?” Grace whispers, rubbing his back and hoping he’ll slip quickly back into restful sleep, but his cries just get louder.

“Oh honey,” Grace murmurs, picking him up. “It’s alright, shhhh…”

“Mama,” Diego whines.

“Is he okay?” Klaus asks, apparently not as asleep as she’s hoped.

“He’s okay honey,” Grace whispers, “just a bad dream, I think. You lay back down now.”

He does, with a rustle of blankets.

Grace rocks Diego until he calms down, and then she puts him back on his cot.

“It’s alright now,” she whispers, “you go back to sleep, sweetie.” She pats his back until he’s asleep again, and fortunately the rest of naptime goes smoothly.

Carol comes to give Grace her hour break for lunch, and on her way back into her room she stops by the laundry room to get a vacuum and then the kitchen to get snack. It’s a big bowl of animal crackers today, which the kids will love.

When she gets back into the room, a few of the kids are already awake and Carol has sent Klaus to the bathroom.

“Thanks,” Grace whispers.

“No problem,’ Carol answers, “Allison and Vanya are already up, too.”

She leaves and Grace sets out coffee filters full of animal crackers and fills the plastic cups halfway up with water.

She turns the lights on once snack is set out and Vanya, Allison, and Klaus move to sit at the table as the others start to wake up. She picks up cots and blankets while sending kids to the bathroom and then to get snack.

“Time to get up Five,” Grace says as she pulls his blanket off him and starts folding it.

Five frowns up at her, looking incredibly confused. “I want my family back,” he says plaintively.

Grace watches him carefully, but he doesn’t look upset or like he just woke up from a nightmare. After a moment she says, “Okay honey. Go potty.” Five gets right up and joins the potty line.

“Make sure you wash your hands!” Grace reminds a few of them, and when the cots are all put away, she starts vacuuming. 

“Alright!” Grace calls when she’s done, “If you’ve finished snack and thrown your trash away, you can pick up your chair and come play on the carpet.”

“Walking feet!” She adds almost immediately, seeing Elliot lift his chair up and run to put it away.

Grace finishes vacuuming the other carpets, cleans tables, sweeps floors, and gets Carol to watch her class while she runs to the laundry room to bring back the vacuum and get a mop bucket. When she returns and Carol leaves, it’s just a matter of reminding them to stay on the carpet while she’s mopping the floor, then she’s almost done cleaning.

Unfortunately, Allison is screaming “Give it back!”

“Ms. Grace! Allison won’t share the orange pony!” Klaus defends, holding the pony in question above his head so Allison can’t reach it.

“Klaus,” Grace scolds gently, “we don’t take toys from our friends. You can play with that one after Allison, and in the meantime I’m sure there’s some ponies Allison isn’t playing with.” She gives Allison a look just in case- Allison is an only child and isn’t always the best at sharing, but now she pushes the pink bucket with the rest of the ponies right over to him.

“Ms. Grace,” Elliot whines before she can go back to mopping, “Five won’t let me play with him!” Five, hunched over some people toys and color blocks, looks entirely done with the others for today. Grace considers.

“Why don’t you play with Luther and Diego?” She tries, “Look! They’re playing with the cars.”

Somewhat reluctantly, Elliot walks over to them and takes a car. Crisis averted.

Once she’s done cleaning, Grace sits on the carpet with the kids to wait for the floor to dry before they can go outside.

“We made you a cake, Ms. Grace!” Allison says as she and Vanya push alphabet blocks towards her.

“Oh! That looks delicious,” Grace says, taking a single block from the stack and pretending to eat it. “Mmmm, yummy!”

Eventually, it’s time to clean up and go outside again, but Sissy and Ben refuse to stop playing and clean up.

“Your friends are cleaning up your mess,” Grace says disapprovingly. “Is that fair to them?” It takes a little more prompting, but soon enough everything is put away and the kids are lined up and ready to go out again.

When they’re all lined up by the door, Grace reminds them, “What kind of hands do we use outside?”

“Gentle hands!”

“What do we do if we see mud puddles?”

“Go around them!”

“What do we do if we see bugs?”

“LEAVE THEM ALONE!”

“That’s right! Let’s go!”

Klaus drags Ben and Allison around the playground, telling Grace they’re princess-pirates as they pass. Vanya and Five are spinning on the merry-go-round. Elliot and Dave are…

“I hope that’s not a bug!” Grace shouts as she approaches the two, who jump away guiltily. Sure enough, there’s a beetle at the edge of the concrete, flipped on its back with all its little legs waving around. “Leave that bug alone please,” she says, shooing the boys away.

“Eww!” Allison shouts, while Vanya makes a face behind her. Luther runs up and stomps on the bug, beaming at Allison like he just saved her life. She doesn’t look terribly impressed.

“Aw,” Sissy says sadly, “poor thing.”

The kids wander away, leaving Luther looking upset.

“It’s alright honey,” Grace says, “it’s just a bug. We leave bugs alone though, right?”

Luther nods, but before they can talk anymore, Carol comes out to collect Luther.

“Your dad’s here!” Carol calls, and Luther runs to see her.

“Bye Luther! See you tomorrow!” Grace shouts after him.

Eudora’s kids are at the door soon after, but Grace doesn’t round her class up. It’s a nice day, they’ll all play together for a while.

One by one, kids start to leave for the day: first Ben, then Diego, then Sissy and Carl.

Jill and a boy Grace thinks is called “Keechie” chase Klaus around for a while, much to his displeasure. Grace walks up and stops them.

“Excuse me,” she says with a frown, “your friend is saying something very important to you. What did he say?”

“Stop,” Jill mumbles, looking embarrassed.

“He said ‘stop.’ Klaus doesn’t want to play this game anymore, please go play something else.”

Jill and the boy walk away.

“Thanks mom!” Klaus says as he runs off to join Vanya and Five. “Uh, I mean Ms. Grace!” Grace laughs.

Not too long after, Grace notices Eudora chasing Vanya’s friend from this morning away from her, Five, and Klaus.

“What’s wrong?” Grace asks.

Eudora shakes her head. “He just wouldn’t leave them alone. Poor kid, hasn’t had a lot of luck making friends yet- he’s a little pushy, as you can see. Actually, I got a bad vibe from his dad the other day.”

Grace frowns. Poor dear. She’ll have to keep an eye out for him.

Then Five runs up to her and growls and Grace forgets what she was thinking about.

"We're puppies!" Klaus explains excitedly.

"Don't worry though," Five says seriously. "I won't chew on your bones."

"Thanks honey," Grace answers.

A few more kids leave- Allison, Jill, a few kids from Eudora’s class. Eventually, they get down to fourteen and Eudora, who came in at seven, leaves Grace on her own to shut down her room and go home. Soon after, Grace decides to bring them inside. It’s getting hot, and the kids are sweaty and flagging. She takes them inside for water and then it’s back to Grace’s classroom to wash their hands and play with toys in the air conditioning.

“Kitchen, art and cozy corner are closed.” Grace says as the kids are washing their hands. “You can play with the table toys, carpet toys, or in science.”

As more children go home, Grace takes kids from Ellie next door. Once Ellie is out of kids in her room, she can take Grace’s spot so that she can go home. In the meantime, there isn’t much for Grace to do except keep the kids from killing each other or breaking anything.

It’s not exactly as easy as it sounds- almost immediately, Elliot and Five are throwing bug toys from the science center at each other. 

Grace has only just separated them when Klaus decides to climb on top of a table.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Grace asks sternly, and Klaus sheepishly climbs back down again. “Feet on the ground Klaus, that is not a safe choice.”

“I’m sorry,” he says.

She sighs and lets him go play. Klaus is her little feral child- far too much energy and recklessness in one tiny body for her to keep track of.

More and more kids leave until Ellie is out of kids and ready to take her spot. Out of her kids, only Vanya and Klaus are left, both often some of the last ones. Klaus’ mom is a single parent working long hours and Vanya… Well, Grace doesn’t exactly listen to gossip but from what she hears her father doesn’t have much interest in parenting if he can help it.

Grace gathers up her things and waves bye to the remaining kids, and gives hugs to Vanya and Klaus when they run up for them. On her way out the door, Jenna stops her.

“Did Carol tell you you’re getting a new kid tomorrow?” she asks.

“No, she must’ve forgotten,” Grace says. “What’s their name?”

“Uh, I forget. I just saw his biography for you on the desk.”

“Hmm…” Grace looks over the paper, likes, dislikes, things the child can do for himself, and what the parents are hoping he’ll get out of their program, all written down for her. “Raymond Chestnut.”

“Raymond, huh? Cute name. Kinda old school.”

Grace agrees, says her goodbyes, and heads home for the night. Tomorrow is sure to be an interesting day.


End file.
